Homilies on First Thessalonians 8

'For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep;'

'for the Lord Himself with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.'

'Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.'

The prophets, wishing to show the trustworthiness of what they said, before all else declare this;

and again, 'The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah;'

and again, 'Thus says the Lord,' and however many such expressions there are.

And many also behold God Himself seated, in so far as it is possible for them to see.

But Paul, not seeing Him seated, but having Christ speaking within himself, instead of 'Thus says the Lord,' said, 'Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?' And again, 'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,' showing that nothing is his own;

for the apostle utters the words of Him who sent him.

And again, 'And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.'

Those things, then, he uttered all by the Spirit; but this which he now says he also heard expressly from God;

just as that other saying, which he spoke when conversing with the elders of the Ephesians, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive,' he heard by way of that which was left unrecorded.

Let us then see what he also now says.

'For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep;'

'for the Lord Himself with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the last trumpet, shall descend from heaven.'

This also Christ then speaks of: 'The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.'

Why, then, with a trumpet? For upon Mount Sinai also we see this, and angels there as well.

And what does the voice of the archangel mean? Just as in the case of the virgins He said,

'Arise, the Bridegroom has come.'

Either He means this, or that just as in the case of a king, so also then it shall be, with the angels ministering unto the resurrection.

For He says that the dead shall rise;

and the work is accomplished, not because the angels have the strength for this, but by His word;

as though a king had commanded and said,

'Let those who are shut up come forth,' and the servants lead them out — no longer by their own strength, but by that voice they do this.

This Christ says also in another place:

'He shall send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the ends of them.'

And everywhere you see the angels running to and fro.

The archangel, then, I suppose to be the one who is set over those who are sent, crying this out: 'Make all ready!'

What is 'at the last trumpet'? Here he shows that there are many trumpets sounding, and that at the last one the Judge descends.

'And the dead,' he says, 'in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.'

'Wherefore comfort one another with these words.' If He is to descend, for what reason shall we be caught up? For honor's sake.

For when a king enters a city, those in honor go out to meet him, but the condemned await the judge within;

and when a tender-hearted father arrives, the children, and those worthy to be children, are brought out on a carriage so as to see and to kiss him;

but those of the household servants who have given offense remain within.

We are borne upon the carriage of the Father;

for He Himself was taken up in the clouds, and we too shall be caught up in the clouds.

Do you see how great the honor is? Both we go to meet Him as He descends, and — most blessed of all — we shall thus be with Him.

'Who shall utter the mighty acts of the Lord, who shall make heard all His praises?' Of how many good things has He counted the human race worthy!

First those who have died are raised, and thus the meeting takes place all together.

Abel, who died before all, shall then meet Him together with those who are alive.

So that in this respect they shall have nothing more, but he who was corrupted, who had spent so many years in the earth, shall meet Him with those others, and all the rest as well.

For if those waited for us that we might be crowned — as he says elsewhere in writing, 'God having provided some better thing concerning us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us' —

much more shall we also wait for them;

or rather, they indeed waited, but we shall wait no longer;

for the resurrection takes place in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye.

And the saying that they are gathered together shows this: that they rise indeed everywhere, but are gathered together by the angels.

To rise, then, is the work of the power of God, who commands the earth to release the deposit entrusted to it, and there is no one who ministers — just as then He called Lazarus, 'Lazarus, come forth.'

But the gathering together is the work of the ministering angels.

But if angels gather them together and run to and fro, how is it that these are themselves caught up here? They are caught up after He has descended, after they have been gathered together;

for this comes to pass all at once, without anyone perceiving it.

For when they behold the earth shaken and the dust stirred up, perhaps the bodies ever being raised, with no one ministering to this task, but the mere command sufficing to empty the whole earth once it has been filled;

consider then how great a thing it is that all those from Adam until His coming shall stand there at that time, together with their wives and children;

when they behold so great a tumult upon the earth, then shall they know.

Just as, therefore, in the dispensation according to the flesh they had foreseen nothing, so also then.

When therefore these things come to pass, then also shall the voice of the archangel be heard, as he gives command to the angels and cries aloud, and the trumpets, or rather the sound of the trumpets.

What trembling, then, shall seize them, what fear, who remain upon the earth? For one is caught up, and one is left behind;

and one is taken, and one is let go.

What will be the soul of those, when they behold some being lifted up, while they themselves are left behind? Will not these things be able to shake them more terribly than any hell? Let us then suppose that this is already present to us in our discourse.

For if a sudden death, or the earthquakes of cities, and threats affect our souls in such a way;

when we behold the earth bursting open and filled with all those multitudes, when we hear the trumpets, when we hear the voice of the archangel brighter than any trumpet, when we behold the heaven rolled up together, when we behold Himself, the King of all, God, drawing near—what then shall be our soul? Let us shudder, I beseech you, and let us fear, as though these things were already coming to pass;

let us not console ourselves with the thought of its delay;

for when a thing must by all means come to pass, its delay is of no profit.

How great the trembling? How great the fear then? Have you ever seen those led away to death? What sort of soul do you suppose is theirs, as they walk the road to the gate? By how much is it not worse than many deaths? What would they not choose both to do and to suffer, that they might be delivered from that gloom, from that cloud? I myself have heard many say who, by the emperor's clemency, were recalled after being led away, that they did not even see men as men, their soul being so troubled and stricken and beside itself.

If, then, bodily death frightens us in this way, when the eternal one draws near, what shall we suffer? And why do I speak of those led away to death? A crowd stands around them at that time, most of them not even knowing them.

If anyone were to look closely into the souls of those men, there is no one so brutal, no one so bold, no one so brave, who does not have his soul fallen down within him, unstrung by fear and despondency.

But if, when others are put to death by this death, which differs nothing from sleep, even those who have no part in it are so disposed;

when we ourselves fall into greater things, what then shall our condition be? It is not possible—it is not possible, believe me—to set forth that suffering in words.

But God is loving toward mankind, and none of these things shall be.

No, one says, but it is only for a threat, that we may be brought to soberness.

If, then, we are not brought to soberness, but remain evil, tell me, will He not bring on the punishment? Then neither will He render the rewards to the good? Yes, one says;

for it befits Him, and is even beyond desert, to do good.

So that those things are true and shall by all means come to pass;

but the matters of punishment not by all means, but only for the sake of threat and fear? Whence I shall persuade you, I do not know.

If I say that their worm shall not die, and the fire shall not be quenched; if I say that they shall depart into eternal fire; if I bring forward the rich man already being punished—you will say that all these are for a threat.

Whence, then, shall I persuade you? For this reasoning is satanic, granting a useless favor and making men slothful.

How, then, shall we drive it out? Whatever we may say from the Scriptures, you will say that it is for the sake of a threat.

But this indeed one might say concerning things to come;

but concerning things that have already come out and reached their end, no longer.

You have all heard concerning the flood;

were those things too spoken for the sake of a threat? Did they not indeed come out and come to pass? Such things, too, those men of old said much;

and while the ark was being built for a hundred years, and the timbers were being fitted together, and the righteous man was crying aloud, there was no one who believed.

But since they did not believe the threat conveyed by words, they underwent the punishment conveyed by deeds.

This shall we also suffer, if we do not believe.

For this very reason He also likens His coming to the days of Noah;

since, just as some disbelieved that flood, so also they disbelieve the flood of hell.

was it not? Did it not become a deed? Then He who brought on punishment so suddenly at that time—will He not much more bring it on now also? For the things now being done are surely not less than those of that time.

How so? Because at that time, it says, the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and the intermingling was the terrible thing;

but now there is no form of wickedness that is not dared.

Do you then believe that the flood came to pass, or does it seem to you a fable? And yet even the mountains where the ark came to rest bear witness—I mean those of Armenia.

But out of great abundance I will also bring my argument to bear on another matter clearer than that.

Has any one of you ever sojourned in Palestine? For henceforth I shall speak no longer of words, but of deeds;

and yet the former things too were clearer than deeds;

for whatever the Scripture may say, these things are more trustworthy than the things that are seen.

Has any one of you, then, ever sojourned in Palestine? I think so.

What then? Bear witness for me, you who have seen the places, to those who have not been there.

For above Ascalon and Gaza, as far as the very end of the river Jordan, there is a large and fruitful country;

this land, then, was like a paradise.

For Lot beheld, it says, all the region round about the Jordan, and it was well-watered, like the paradise of God.

This land, then, so flourishing, and rivaling all other regions, surpassing the paradise of God in its fertility, is now more desolate than all the deserts;

and trees stand there, and they have fruit;

but the fruit is a memorial of the wrath of God.

For pomegranates stand there—I mean both the tree and the fruit—having a bright appearance, and offering many hopes to one who does not know;

but if they be taken into the hands and broken open, they show no fruit at all, but much dust and ashes stored up within.

And should you find a stone, you will find it turned to ashes.

And why do I speak of stone and wood and earth, when even the air and the waters have shared in the calamity? For just as when a body has been burned and consumed by fire, the shape indeed remains, and the outline in the appearance of the fire, and the bulk and the proportion, but the power no longer;

even so there one may see earth, but having nothing of earth, all being ashes;

trees and fruits, but having nothing of trees nor of fruits;

air and water, but nothing of air nor of water;

for these too have been turned to ashes.

And yet how could air ever be set on fire? And how could water, while remaining water, be so? For it is possible to burn wood and stones, but air and water it is in no way possible.

For us it is not possible, but for Him who made them it is possible.

Therefore the air is nothing else than a furnace, and the water a furnace;

all things fruitless, all things barren, all things images of the wrath that has gone before, tokens of that which is to come.

Are these too the threats of words? Are these too the noises of words? For to me not even the former things are incredible, but the things unseen are trustworthy just as the things seen;

but to the unbeliever even these things are sufficient to furnish faith.

If anyone disbelieves in hell, let him reckon up Sodom, let him consider Gomorrah, the punishment that has come to pass and still remains.

This is a proof that the punishment is everlasting.

But are those things not burdensome, when you say that there is no hell, but that God merely uttered a threat? When you unnerve the hands of the people? It is you who compel me to speak of these things, you who are the unbeliever.

If you had believed the words of Christ, I would not have been forced to bring forward the proof that comes from facts;

but since you have fled from those words, you shall now be persuaded whether you will or no.

For what have you to say concerning the Sodomites? Do you wish to learn the very cause for which those things befell them at that time? There was one sin—grievous indeed and accursed, yet nevertheless but one:

the men of that time raged with lust after boys, and for this reason they paid this penalty.

But now there are committed sins ten thousandfold, and equal to theirs, and even more grievous than these.

Then will He who poured out so great a wrath for a single sin—He who was moved neither by Abraham's entreaty nor by Lot, His own household guest, who for the honour due to his guests

gave up his own daughters to outrage—will He, when the sins are so many, spare them? Truly this is laughter and folly and error and a devilish deception.

Do you wish that I bring forward yet another instance? You have surely heard of Pharaoh, the king of the Egyptians;

then you know also the penalty which he paid, and how, together with his very chariots and horses and with all his army, he was drowned in the Red Sea.

Do you wish to learn of others as well? For he perhaps was ungodly—rather, not perhaps, but was truly ungodly.

Do you wish to see men punished even from among those who believed and gave heed to God, yet whose life was not upright? Hear Paul, who says:

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand;

neither let us murmur, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer;

neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted Him, and were destroyed by the serpents.

But if fornication had so great power, and if murmuring did, what will our sins not accomplish? And if He does not now exact the penalty, do not be amazed;

for they did not know of hell,

and therefore they were chastised with the punishments that lay ready at their feet;

but you, whatever you sin, even if you pay no penalty here, you shall render account there.

Then, if He chastised so severely those who were more childish and did not offend so greatly, will He spare us? That could have no reason.

For even if we sin the same sins as they, we are worthy of greater punishment.

Why? Because we have enjoyed greater grace.

But when we offend in things both more numerous and greater than theirs, what penalty shall we not undergo? Those men (and let no one suppose that I speak as one admiring them or excusing them—God forbid;

for when God punishes, whoever casts the opposite vote does so out of a devilish mind;

not, then, in praise of them, nor in excusing them, do I say this, but to show forth our own wickedness)—

those men, then, even if they murmured, yet were coming into a wilderness;

but we, though we have a homeland and are in our own houses, still murmur.

And those men, even if they committed fornication, yet had only just come out of the evils of Egypt, and had scarcely heard such a law;

but we have received the doctrines of salvation from our forefathers;

so that we are worthy of greater punishment.

Do you wish to hear yet other things also—how many sufferings befell them in Palestine: famines, pestilences, wars, captivities, those under the Babylonians, those under the Assyrians, the evils inflicted by the Macedonians, those under Hadrian and Vespasian? I wish to relate something to you, beloved, but do not leap away;

or rather, before this I will tell another.

A famine once occurred, it says, and the king was walking upon the wall;

then a woman came forward and uttered to him these words:

'O king,' this woman said to me,

'Let us boil your son today and eat him, and tomorrow mine;'

'and we boiled him and ate him;'

'but she no longer gave up her own.'

What is more grievous than this calamity? Again elsewhere the prophet says:

The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children.

The Jews, then, paid such a penalty;

and shall we not pay a much greater one? IV.

Do you wish to hear yet other of their calamities? Go through the writings of Josephus, and you will learn that whole tragedy—if indeed we may persuade you by these things that there is a hell.

If those men were chastised, why are we not chastised? Or how is it likely that we should not be chastised, when we offend worse than they? Is it not plain that it is because the punishment is stored up for us? And if you wish, I will tell you also, in the case of each single person, how they were chastised.

Cain slew his brother;

how could he not? but he paid a penalty—both grievous, and worth ten thousand deaths, and for which he would have chosen even to die ten thousand times;

for hear him saying: 'If You cast me out from the land, and I shall be hidden from Your face, then everyone who finds me will slay me.'

Tell me, then: do not many now do the same things as he? For when you destroy not a fleshly but a spiritual

brother, have you not wrought the very same thing? For what does it matter if you do it not with a sword but in another way—when, being able to relieve a famine, you look on with indifference? What then? Has no one now envied his brother? Has no one surrounded him with dangers? Yet here they paid no penalty.

Then he who had heard neither written laws nor prophets, nor had beheld great signs, pays so great a punishment;

and shall he who has done the same things in another way, and is not brought to soberness even by so many examples, go unpunished? And where is the justice of God? Or where is His goodness? Again, someone who gathered sticks on the Sabbath was stoned;

and yet this commandment is a small one, and less weighty than that of circumcision.

Then he who gathered sticks on the Sabbath was stoned, while those who have wrought countless lawless deeds have often departed unpunished.

If, then, there be no hell, where is the justice, where the impartiality? And yet He brings many such charges against them—that they do not keep the Sabbaths.

Again, another—one Achar—having stolen a devoted thing, was stoned together with all his household.

What then? Has no one since his day become a temple-robber? Again, Saul, having spared contrary to what seemed good to God, underwent so great a punishment;

has no one, then, since his day shown mercy? Would that it were only this;

do we not rather devour one another worse than wild beasts, contrary to what seems good to God—and yet no one has fallen in war?

Again, the sons of Eli, because they ate before the incense-offering, paid a most grievous penalty together with their father.

Has there then been no father careless concerning his children? nor wicked children? And yet no one has paid a penalty.

When, then, shall they pay it, if there be no hell? Again, one might reckon up ten thousand other instances.

And what of this? Ananias and Sapphira—was it not because they had stolen from what they had dedicated that they were punished on the spot? Has no one, then, since their day done these things? How is it, then, that they did not pay the same penalty? Do we persuade you that there is a hell, or do you need yet more examples? Then let us come also to the things unwritten, which now take place in life;

for it is necessary that this conviction be gathered for us from every quarter, lest, vainly indulging ourselves, we do ourselves harm.

Do you not see many in calamities, maimed in body, suffering ten thousand terrible things, while others prosper? Why do some pay the penalty for their murders, and others not? Hear Paul saying:

Some men's sins are manifest beforehand, but with some they also follow after.

How many murderers have escaped? how many tomb-robbers? But let these things pass.

How many do you not see chastised with a grievous chastisement? Some have been delivered over to a long disease, others to unremitting torments, others to ten thousand other terrible things.

When, then, you see one who has dared the same things as they, or even far more, and yet pays no penalty, will you not, even against your will, confess the reality of hell? Pick out those who before your own eyes have here been grievously chastised, consider that God is no respecter of persons, and that, though you have wrought ten thousand evils, you have suffered no such thing—and you shall hold fast the thought of hell.

For God has so sown this conviction within us that no one has ever been ignorant of it.

For indeed poets and philosophers and myth-tellers, and quite simply all men, have philosophised concerning the recompense yonder, and have said that the many are punished in Hades.

But if those are fables, yet the things among us are not.

I have said these things not simply out of a wish to frighten you, nor to weigh down your souls, but to bring you to soberness and to make them lighter.

I myself too could wish that there were no punishment, and I most of all men.

Why so? Because each of you fears for his own soul alone;

but I shall render an account even for this presidency;

so that it is impossible above all others for me to escape.

But it cannot be that there is no punishment and hell.

What am I to do? Again they raise difficulties and say:

Where then is the loving-kindness of God? Everywhere.

Rather, I will discourse concerning this at another time, that we may not confound our words about hell.

For the present, let not the gain we have obtained from what has been said slip away; for it is no small gain to be persuaded concerning hell.

For the remembrance of such words, like some bitter medicine, will be able to scour away every

vice, if it settles continually in your mind.

Let us then make use of it, so that having a pure heart from thence, we may thus be counted worthy to behold those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.